Revanth Reddy eyeing Rs 30,000 crore Metro Rail assets: KTR warns of massive scam
BRS working president KT Rama Rao accused Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy of a massive scam involving Hyderabad Metro Rail assets worth Rs 30,000 crore. He alleged political collusion over Metro expansion delays and criticised governance and welfare policy failures
Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao charged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy with engineering a massive scam involving Hyderabad Metro Rail assets worth nearly Rs 30,000 crore, and also attempting to shift a debt burden of around Rs 15,000 crore onto the people of Hyderabad. He termed the ongoing tussle between Revanth Reddy and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy as a political drama to conceal the alleged scam.
Addressing a meeting of BRS cadres in Serilingampally on Tuesday, Rama Rao said the Chief Minister was trying to take control of nearly 250 acres of Metro land and assets valued at Rs 30,000 crore. He said the Chief Minister had blackmailed L&T Metro Rail officials and forced them out of the state to facilitate the asset takeover, with efforts to eventually hand over the assets to the Chief Minister’s family members, relatives and close associates.
He stated that the state government was willing to assume liabilities linked to the L&T Metro Rail project merely to gain control over its assets. “The debt of nearly Rs 14,000 crore of the private company is being placed on the people of Hyderabad, who will soon realise how these assets reached Revanth Reddy’s family.”
The BRS working president accused Revanth Reddy and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy of staging a political drama over the Metro Rail issue, while working in tandem behind the scenes. He questioned why the Centre had not approved the Metro Rail expansion proposed by the previous BRS government from Lakdikapul to Patancheru if it was genuinely committed to Telangana’s development.
He stated that the BJP-led Union government sanctioned Metro projects for several smaller cities in Uttar Pradesh, while denying similar support to Hyderabad. Revanth Reddy and Kishan Reddy pretended to differ in Hyderabad while acting in concert in New Delhi, he added.
Recalling that the previous BRS government had launched the Airport Metro Express project connecting the Financial District and the airport, Rama Rao said the project could have been completed by now, easing traffic congestion for lakhs of commuters, had it not been shelved by the current Congress government.
He reminded that though the Congress initiated the Metro Rail project, it did not progress until former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao came to power and completed it and made it operational. “Regardless of how many dramas Revanth Reddy and Kishan Reddy stage together, the Metro expansion will regain momentum only when KCR returns to power,” he declared.
Criticising the Congress government for dismantling welfare and development initiatives launched during the BRS regime, the former minister said the Revanth Reddy government had all qualities of both Tughlaq and Adolf Hitler, who systematically destroyed existing systems and caused hardship to people. He accused the government of demolishing houses in Hyderabad and questioned how it could pursue the Musi Riverfront Development project worth over Rs 1.5 lakh crore while claiming a lack of funds to fulfil election promises.
Rama Rao also targeted Serilingampally MLA Arekapudi Gandhi for defecting to the Congress for personal gain, but claiming to have joined for development of the constituency. He challenged the turncoat MLA to disclose the funds secured for the constituency over the past two years, against works worth Rs 9,500 crore delivered by the previous BRS government.
He urged BRS activists to intensify membership enrolment, participate actively in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) programme, and work collectively to bring the BRS back to power.
